- General information about the Ordos Desert
- Desert climate
- Geological characteristics of the area
- Natural conditions
- Desert flora
China is one of the largest states on the planet. It occupies vast territories in Asia, which are the object of close attention for scientists who study not only political or economic aspects. Of no less interest are geology, climate, certain natural zones located on the territory of the country, including the Ordos Desert, which is a desert plateau in the central part of the country.
General information about the Ordos Desert
It is interesting, first of all, the geographical location of the desert, located in the central regions and limited by the waters of the Yellow Rivers. Moreover, the water border runs along the western, northern and eastern extremities of Ordos. In the south, the territory of the desert smoothly transforms into the so-called Loess Plateau.
This plateau is characterized by the highest soil fertility, so the first people began to develop territories from here. Scientists say that the birth of the Chinese nation began from the Loess Plateau. All the more interesting is the fact that the fertile plateau is located in the immediate vicinity of the desert, which cannot boast of either the fertility of the land or the mild climate.
Desert climate
Scientists note that the Ordos Desert is characterized by a temperate or sharply continental climate. The main features of the climatic conditions of the area are: sharp temperature drops during the day and seasons; the presence of a small amount of precipitation.
As for the temperature regime of the area, in summer, the average July temperature is at around + 23 ° С, although in some years temperatures were recorded that far exceeded the mark of + 30 ° С. The average January temperature is -10 ° С.
Precipitation is uneven, depending on the year, the level can be either 100 mm (extremely dry year) or 400 mm, which is considered a great success by the locals. The downside is that sudden changes in temperature cause phenomena such as thunderstorms.
Geological characteristics of the area
From this point of view, the Ordos desert is characterized by the presence of a thin layer of eluvium and aeolian sands. Sands occupy a significant part of the desert area, form ridge hilly uplifts and dunes, large accumulations of sand dunes are located in the northern part, they even got their name - Kuzupchi sands.
In the southern regions of Ordos, you can find clayey plains, salt marshes, salt lakes, many of which dry up in the summer. The geological structure dramatically changes its character in the west of the desert, since on the left bank of the Yellow River, the natural border of the Ordos, the Arbiso Mountains are located, which are a continuation of the Alashan Range.
Natural conditions
If the geology of Ordos and the adjacent territories are different, then the natural conditions are more or less homogeneous, many researchers note this. They talk about the similarity of the natural conditions of the Ordos plateau, the plains of the Gobi Desert, another desert called Alashan, and the Beishan plateau. This is due to many reasons, including the presence of landscapes similar in nature (deserts, semi-deserts, steppes).
The Yellow River is the main, constant flow of water that bends around the Ordos Desert. That is why the Yellow River has an important impact on the development of the region, along this river there are several fairly large oases. The rest of the rivers do not play a special role; in places where they descend from the mountains, they are immediately used for irrigation.
On the territory of the desert there are also lakes, however, their number is not so large. Almost all of them are salty, fresh - very few, therefore they have no economic value. In addition, they do not differ in great depth, which leads to drying out, in this state they are most of the year.
Historians claim that earlier there were much more lakes in these territories, they occupied significant areas. The dramatic decrease in the number of water bodies was influenced by the drying up of the climate, which has been observed over the past years.
Desert flora
The general characteristics of the flora of the desert do not differ from what can be found in other arid regions of the planet. The vegetation is extremely scarce, the most widespread are desert and semi-desert species. Lovers of desert territories - various hodgepodge, caragana, Ordos wormwood, the latter include: various types of wormwood; feather grass; sea buckthorn (a fairly common shrub); yellowish willow.
The mountainous regions are marked by a great variety, there are already forests, inhabited, respectively, not only by representatives of flora, but also by fauna. The forests are inhabited by a large number of birds, for example, relict gulls, earlier in the mountainous regions it was possible to meet a snow leopard, a wild camel, a gazelle.
